American Blackbelly Hair Sheep Breeding Goals

Goal: Providing the sophisticated palates of gourmet lamb lovers with a wonderful eating experience they will never forget!

Mother Nature has taken care of this for us! However, we believe that the optimal Blackbelly lamb experience comes from lambs which have been raised with the flock in a stress free natural setting, with plenty of sunshine, fresh air, and clean grass. We harvest our lambs at the peak of the grazing season, generally around the end of June, to assure the lambs have had the best grass the farm can produce. The pastures are then given the opportunity to rest in a natural cycle of growth, harvest, dormancy and recovery.

Goal: Producing outstanding bloodstock for other breeders to assure a continually improving genetic pool.

By upholding our own breeding standards, we hope to achieve the first part of this goal at some point in the future, but for now, we are keeping our best stock for ourselves, as we work toward building a superior flock. However, we are anxious to network with other breeders toward the goal of boosting the American Blackbelly sheep to a prominent position in the gourmet lamb market.

Goal: Improving and remineralizing our farm with the help of the sheep, and creating a reasonably sustainable environment, eventually to become a fully grassfed operation.

When we first began our sheep venture we had high hopes of starting out right away with a 100% grassfed operation. However we were soon to learn that in order to produce the highest quality table product, one must have very mineral- and nutrient-rich soil in order to sustain the high energy forages that make grain feeding unnecessary. Our soil is in the process of being remineralized andbrought up to optimal health, but this process takes years. With the help of the sheep, their "tread lightly" grazing habits, along with good pasture management, we know the years to come will bring increasing fertility to the farm and reduced dependence on supplemental feeds.

Goal: Promoting awareness of the American Blackbelly Sheep and its parent breed, Barbados Blackbelly Sheep through active participation in our breed registry organization, the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep Assn., Int'l.

We believe strongly that conservation, improvement and historical documentation begin with the breed registry organization. We actively support the Barbados Blackbelly Sheep Assn., Int'l., as the organization which safeguards the registry and history of the American Blackbelly Sheep. We believe STRONGLY in registering animals. It is the only way to assure that stock sold to other breeders (or purchased in) comes from a line of animals which has been bred to a specific standard for generations. Buying registered stock is the only sure way of preventing the commingling of polled (Barbados) and horned (American) genetics. Registering our stock is one way that buyers of our sheep can be assured of what they are getting - they can obtain a pedigree and assure that the animals are thoughtfully planned for and not the result of random breeding and poor record keeping.